Can I write something once and use it in multiple topics?

[Joe@Majiq]

Hello, I'm new to RoboHelp, and am wondering if this is possible... I have a bunch of topics where I list all the elements needed for XML messages 9one message per topic). Many of these elements (with their definitions) are used in many of the messages. This means that the same definition is shown in multiple topics. I would like to write each definition once, and and then shown wherever it's needed.

Also, many of the definitions include bullet lists, which I would like to show in two columns. I'm currently using tables to do this, but would prefer a better solution.

This is a new project, but I would like to incorporate it into our existing WebHelp system. But if there is a different output that would work better, we can consider that (though it would likely need to be a single file that we share with our customers).

Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

You should investigate using Snippets. These are independent of your output and work with any output you choose.

[Joe@Majiq]

Thank you! That looks really helpful!

Question: How do I create a new paragraph style and have it available in all my snippets? There's got to be some kind of "global" style that I can create, but I can't find it.

Thanks!

[Captiv8r]

It's been a while for me, but I believe that snippets are styled based on the other elements in the CSS. I do believe you can specifically apply styling to them, but they generally just adhere to the basic styling of whatever CSS has been associated to the page they appear in.

[Peter Grainge]

When you create a CSS you can choose whether or not to apply a CSS. If you don't, then they take on the styles of the topic they are in. You really only need to apply a CSS to a snippet when you want them to use a different CSS. Maybe you want them to stand out and have different colours applied.